CERRITOS – For the second consecutive year there was a chance Valley Christian High and St. John Bosco would meet in the finals of the Valley Christian/St. John Bosco/Mayfair boys volleyball tournament.

But once again the Crusaders and Braves were beaten in the semifinals, and Palos Verdes and Burbank Burroughs squared off for the title at Valley Christian on Saturday afternoon.

The Sea Kings and Indians played earlier this season in the Redondo Tournament with Burroughs prevailing in two sets. Palos Verdes avenged that defeat by winning Saturday’s championship match, 2-0. Scores were 25-21, 25-22.

The second set was tied, 20-20, and then the Sea Kings led, 23-22.

Kills by Danny Welch and Shane Dyer closed it out for Palos Verdes, which has now won this tournament three years in succession.

After the Sea Kings took pictures while holding their championship plaque, Coach Patrick Lynch explained what the difference was between Saturday’s match and the sweep his team suffered at the hands of Burroughs (16-3) on March 5.

“We had more intensity, and we’ve improved,” said Lynch, whose team is 18-7. “We’ve been working hard in the gym, we’ve been working hard with our middles. We served tougher and we passed the ball well and we did that through every game of the tournament.”

Palos Verdes, which finished 7-0 in the two-day tournament, beat St. John Bosco, 2-0, in the semifinals. Ryan Marcil – a 6-foot-7 opposite – and Brendan Hong led the Sea Kings in the championship match with six kills apiece. Dyer and Welch each had four kills.

Palos Verdes – which lost 12 seniors off last year’s team – is unranked in the CIF Southern Section Division I poll.

Burroughs entered ranked No.3 in Division III. The Indians defeated an injury-riddled Valley Christian team – which is ranked No. 1 in Division III – in two sets in the semifinals.

But Burroughs didn’t seem to match the desire of the Sea Kings, a point not lost on Indians coach Joel Brinton.

“They played better than we did, especially their middles just out-performed out middles,” he said. “And I hate using excuses … but we totally looked a step slow. They were flying all over the court defensively. We were slow on the block; we were still rotating.”

Ike Nwachie led Burroughs with six kills and four blocks and Daniel Jacobs had four kills and two blocks.

Valley Christian and St. John Bosco both finished 5-1 in the tournament. Mayfair won the consolation championship with a 4-2 record.

Since Valley Christian (17-3) is still missing two of its best players in senior hitters Mike Klein and Chris Albers, Crusaders coach Rob Samuelson was pleased with his team’s effort.

“We have guys who are just learning some new positions and we’re just kind of getting used to playing without two of our big guys,” Samuelson said. “(Friday), especially, was a good chance for us to get everybody in the game and just see what we had and we played really well together.

“Both matches we won today, we lost the first game to Mayfair and came back and beat them two straight. We lost the first game to El Segundo, won the second and beat them 15-4 in the third.”

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